I drove my 59 ghia convertible with the original 36hp for just over 100k miles. My daily and drove San Diego to LA regularly. Was a great car. I found it with 59k original miles on it. When I sold it had 162k on it. I have a 52 split bug now. Not a daily but a do drive it often.
Great video Mike, love this Beetle. For the engine lid hitting the bumper. I have found that if you open the lid and then push it more open. The lid doesn’t touch anymore
Hi Mike, that 36 looks good from here 😉. I'd mic the crank, the rods, and both sets of bearings - if they are in specs, back together and run it! A cooling upgrade for a 36 horse is to upgrade to a Porsche 356 oil cooler (aluminum). Definitely check the valve guides - weak spot on 36's. Check for cylinder taper and if good, hone and new rings. The little 26 carb and intake really act as a "restrictor plate" and save these little guys 😊. Thank You for the video!
My friend told me Ewan Mcgregor was going electric in his 54 last night, so First thought when I woke up was what am I going to do engine wise with my oval built in Sept 56 (which looks more like when you first got yours).. I have at least 3 36 Hp motor in "storage", and then this video comes up, perfect timing !! THanks for teach us what to look for.
Honestly I dont think I will ever go electric. I like to go way too far in my cars. It is too hot here much of the time and I would rather drive toward the beach. The range would make that impossible.
Yea here not as much but still expensive. Crank is 616...carbs and heads kit is 2000. then the other stuff is over 1000. Machine work would be probably 1000 or more. I need to dig around upstairs and see if I still have that 010 dist. I dont want that late 60s 40hp one on there.
I am not sure what they were like. I think this one had the license plate mounted to the decklid with no bracket. I am not doing it that way havent figured how I am going to mount it.
Bumpers look great. I suggest redoing the heads with new exhaust valves; check guides too and maybe resurfacing them. Normally the cases on these and the 1200s don’t get pounded as hard as the larger displacements obviously because they produce less power. Judging by the broken fin in one of the jugs it has definitely been worked on before.
Yea she has been apart for sure. I saw that too. I have exhaust valves and guides. was planning on doing that. I am kicking around doing 80mm...but I will see next week. Might have a sponsor. this stuff is EXPENSIVE...machine work is OMG....and only a few guys have the stuff to do it.
@@Mikefngarage there’s a guy in your area named Ruiz and they call him Mr Okrasa. He does the most beautiful rebuilds on these motors as well as old Porsche and the transaxles. He also gives the blocks and transaxles the anodized finish. I believe when you do those valves and heads maybe re-ring and hone cylinders and the power will be like night and day. You can always swap the jugs and pistons and run it like this for a while until you can get the Okrasa kit; and then install it (it’s just the dual port heads and carbs and manifolds).
@@vayabroder729 yea true....Behind the scenes. I was talking to Tony owner of WW....he says Come on down.....I am not sure what the results are going to be from that. This was at the Solvang show....
George is already on the anodized finish thing. He was telling me about some product. I havent gotten the info on it yet. He has built some totally amazing award winning cars. he is on the stick about building this motor to the next level. We will know later this week.
it was like my old 40hr I took apart. had a blown piston but other than that the Crank and case was in good shape. It looked as though it had low miles but a ring broke and destroyed the piston and they just pulled the motor out and left in the corner of the shop I got it from for 40 years. Just replaced the exhaust valve guides and going to put on the new pistons and jugs soon. other than he gave me 36hp carb, fuel pump and flywheel it should go together and run pretty good. I gave him the flywheel back and got the right one. he had the old 36hp motor for his 58 oval in his shop and is building a stroker for it.
Little scratches on bearings wont hurt nothing. If clearance are good and line bore is good. Mine instill gotta put heads on. Thinking of using locktite blue on nuts.
Excuse me; Can you tell me.. What’s de color code?; I mean ; I know it’s a Strato Silver; but nowadays no exist; and so….. what was exactly color code Can you use?
Yea US spec had the "egg" taillights. other places used the "heart" ones. These are super rare and US only. Oddly enough it even had these later US spec Bumpers listed on the birth cert. and they conflict with the tail lights. Fixed later in late 55 and 56.
I drove my 59 ghia convertible with the original 36hp for just over 100k miles. My daily and drove San Diego to LA regularly. Was a great car. I found it with 59k original miles on it. When I sold it had 162k on it. I have a 52 split bug now. Not a daily but a do drive it often.
yea those old 36s would last because the had no horsepower to hurt themselves.
@@Mikefngarage I think we talked at the vw fiesta in IB a couple weekends ago. I have the green split window bug.
Gotta love early Ovals with overriders. Great work as usual!
Thanks! I just figured to make it the way it was. I really like the euro bumpers but the holes were already there so I went original.
Great video Mike, love this Beetle. For the engine lid hitting the bumper. I have found that if you open the lid and then push it more open. The lid doesn’t touch anymore
Thx for taking us along on the motor build. Oval is looking amazing! 🤙🏻
Those bumpers makes a hell of a difference !
I've seen so many of those bumper grommets in upside down 😂😂😂😂 I'm like WTH?
yea Me too. sometimes the metalwork was not right and that is why otherwise it would be so hard to fit them that way.
Oval window beetle now looks incredible Mike, I would be very proud to own that.
Hi Mike, that 36 looks good from here 😉. I'd mic the crank, the rods, and both sets of bearings - if they are in specs, back together and run it! A cooling upgrade for a 36 horse is to upgrade to a Porsche 356 oil cooler (aluminum). Definitely check the valve guides - weak spot on 36's. Check for cylinder taper and if good, hone and new rings. The little 26 carb and intake really act as a "restrictor plate" and save these little guys 😊. Thank You for the video!
Best Wishes from Peru
My friend told me Ewan Mcgregor was going electric in his 54 last night, so First thought when I woke up was what am I going to do engine wise with my oval built in Sept 56 (which looks more like when you first got yours).. I have at least 3 36 Hp motor in "storage", and then this video comes up, perfect timing !! THanks for teach us what to look for.
Honestly I dont think I will ever go electric. I like to go way too far in my cars. It is too hot here much of the time and I would rather drive toward the beach. The range would make that impossible.
Mike, motor looks pretty good inside :) I'm up to almost 16k on my okrasa 1500 build. Dam pricey parts alright!!
Yea here not as much but still expensive. Crank is 616...carbs and heads kit is 2000. then the other stuff is over 1000. Machine work would be probably 1000 or more. I need to dig around upstairs and see if I still have that 010 dist. I dont want that late 60s 40hp one on there.
we use Permatex motorcycle case sealant for cases. Never had any leak at the seam. Hondabond or Yamabond also the same thing.
Great video! I broke off the same bolt as you did. If possible, I'd love to see how you fixed it.
I will use Oxy acetylene torch.
Yes…some head work and fresh seals and your good to go 🎉
yea pistons and cylinders look pretty worn too. could just ring it.
Nice,😎😎😎👍👍👍
Thanks ✌
Did you ever come up with the original tag bracket for the car,😎😎😎👍👍👍
I am not sure what they were like. I think this one had the license plate mounted to the decklid with no bracket. I am not doing it that way havent figured how I am going to mount it.
Bumpers look great. I suggest redoing the heads with new exhaust valves; check guides too and maybe resurfacing them. Normally the cases on these and the 1200s don’t get pounded as hard as the larger displacements obviously because they produce less power. Judging by the broken fin in one of the jugs it has definitely been worked on before.
Yea she has been apart for sure. I saw that too. I have exhaust valves and guides. was planning on doing that. I am kicking around doing 80mm...but I will see next week. Might have a sponsor. this stuff is EXPENSIVE...machine work is OMG....and only a few guys have the stuff to do it.
@@Mikefngarage there’s a guy in your area named Ruiz and they call him Mr Okrasa. He does the most beautiful rebuilds on these motors as well as old Porsche and the transaxles. He also gives the blocks and transaxles the anodized finish. I believe when you do those valves and heads maybe re-ring and hone cylinders and the power will be like night and day. You can always swap the jugs and pistons and run it like this for a while until you can get the Okrasa kit; and then install it (it’s just the dual port heads and carbs and manifolds).
@@vayabroder729 yea true....Behind the scenes. I was talking to Tony owner of WW....he says Come on down.....I am not sure what the results are going to be from that. This was at the Solvang show....
@@Mikefngarage WW is a great company. Getting a sponsorship from them on this would be fantastic!!
George is already on the anodized finish thing. He was telling me about some product. I havent gotten the info on it yet. He has built some totally amazing award winning cars. he is on the stick about building this motor to the next level. We will know later this week.
it was like my old 40hr I took apart. had a blown piston but other than that the Crank and case was in good shape. It looked as though it had low miles but a ring broke and destroyed the piston and they just pulled the motor out and left in the corner of the shop I got it from for 40 years. Just replaced the exhaust valve guides and going to put on the new pistons and jugs soon. other than he gave me 36hp carb, fuel pump and flywheel it should go together and run pretty good. I gave him the flywheel back and got the right one. he had the old 36hp motor for his 58 oval in his shop and is building a stroker for it.
That’s beautiful 🎊 🎉
Little scratches on bearings wont hurt nothing. If clearance are good and line bore is good. Mine instill gotta put heads on. Thinking of using locktite blue on nuts.
yea true. dots of Ultra black silicone on the threads work great too. they never come loose with that.
man you can pull those engines apart with your eyes closed
It was small valves that kept them low revving and long lasting
Biggest difference between 36 and 25 was Compression ratio from what I thought.
Polish journals , hone w/new rings AA big bore kit !!
Late model 36hp heads no metal plug inserts
thanks I dont know anything about 36s.
Excuse me; Can you tell me.. What’s de color code?; I mean ; I know it’s a Strato Silver; but nowadays no exist; and so….. what was exactly color code Can you use?
I had to eye match the original paint under the door panels.
is this vw modified? my 54 i had in Sweden had other backlights and other frontlihts.
the difference is US to Euro Spec
Yea US spec had the "egg" taillights. other places used the "heart" ones. These are super rare and US only. Oddly enough it even had these later US spec Bumpers listed on the birth cert. and they conflict with the tail lights. Fixed later in late 55 and 56.
This guy has no clue people in the east coast drove one car A VW bug or bus everyday. So this is an amateur
OK your the expert. I have only been driving these my whole life...and I am 60 I am sure you know more than me.